


The rainbow comes and goes

by cjmarlowe



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: F/F, Growing Up, Sensory Deprivation, Touching, kink bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:19:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjmarlowe/pseuds/cjmarlowe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The blindfold was like permission, to touch all of the things that she'd never dared before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The rainbow comes and goes

"There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, the earth, and every common sight to me did seem apparelled in celestial light, the glory and the freshness of a dream," said Anne, then drew a deep breath and grabbed Diana's hand and raced off into the woods like they were young as the day they met and not young ladies now, even if Anne didn't think she'd ever be quite so proper as _some_ folk with no imagination whatsoever thought she ought to be.

"But where are we _going_?" said Diana, and laughed delightedly as she stumbled along in Anne's wake.

"Wherever we like!" said Anne, though Diana might have guessed as they had been playing here for years and years, for as long as Anne had been at Avonlea. "I've got a game."

"A game? Oh, Anne."

"Don't you sigh at me, Diana Barry," she said. "We're not so old yet that we can't play games in the woods."

"If your students come across us, they'll have things to say to their parents."

"If my students come across us, they shall not be surprised at all," said Anne, "for they know that if it weren't for the necessity of lessons in mathematics and Latin, I would was rhapsodic about poetry the whole day through. Who would want a teacher who did not delight in the world?"

"It's one thing to delight in the world," said Diana, "but it's quite another to—"

"Oh, don't," Anne pleaded with her. "All too soon we shall not have the opportunity for even this little delight. We shall be women."

"We _are_ women," said Diana, but Anne would not be deterred and she knew that if Diana did not want to be here with her, she would not, for Anne could cajole Diana into a great many adventures but nothing that she did not in her heart of hearts believe that she would enjoy.

"It's only a game of blind man," said Anne, tugging her deeper into the trees. "I shall not make you pretend to be a fairy princess with me today, though were we to be fairies from Shakespeare I think that would be wholly appropriate for women of our time in life."

"Oh, Anne, you know I'm not good at that," said Diana.

"Which is why we shall not," said Anne, rushing them up to the spot she'd picked out and getting a roll of string from her bag. "Right here is the perfect spot, oh, just look at the sunshine slanting through the trees onto the grass, Diana, could there be a more perfect sight?"

"It's very beautiful, Anne," said Diana, pausing in the middle with a ray of light falling directly across her. Why, it was nearly enough to take Anne's breath away, and for a moment she forgot what she was meant to be doing. "Do you not want to play the game? We could picnic instead. I brought apples."

"Oh no, we _have_ to play now, we've come all this way," said Anne, tearing her eyes away to go back to unwinding the string, "and if we run about a little, the apples will taste all the more delicious and refreshing afterwards."

Diana set her basket outside the boundaries that Anne was setting, and held the dark strip of cloth that served as a blindfold in her hands until Anne finally returned to her, breathless with a lock of hair falling out of its bun and down onto her cheek. Diana smiled at her and pushed the hair back behind her ear then held up the blindfold and oh, Anne could see that she truly did hold a bit of delight in her soul that they could still do this, for a little while longer.

"Tie it tightly," said Anne, "for it would be cheating if I could see, and I'll be called a lot of terrible, terrible things before I'll be called a cheater."

"I know you would never cheat," said Diana, but she tied it more tightly all the same and Anne could see only a bit of light coming in now and nothing else. "Now come find me!"

The area in which they played was only so big, and Anne knew it would never occur to Diana to cheat either so she'd certainly be found within it, and warn Anne if she accidentally moved past the boundaries (if, for instance, a string should come loose). Anne listened for her footsteps, for Diana was delicate but not dainty and made plenty of noise on the ground, if only the birds were not covering her tracks. She counted to ten in her head, one number for each breath, then called out, "Freeze!"

Anne was turned around enough that within moments she came up against the boundary, a thin piece of string tied between two trees, but she had been _certain_ she heard Diana moving this way so she turned to her left (oh, it was a terrible decision to have to make, for one was the right way and one was the opposite of the right way) and traveled alongside the border.

"You're being quiet as a mouse, aren't you?" said Anne, though a mouse would be making more noise than Diana was right now, rustling through the grass. "Perhaps I'll be lucky and you'll have had some of the casserole Marilla left with your mother. Then I shall be able to _smell_ my way to you."

Diana giggled, as Anne had dearly hoped she would, and of course it _was_ from the other direction so Anne turned herself about and set off forthwith; a little gasp from Diana at her sudden change of direction told her she was on the right track. 

She shuffled along the grass carefully, though of course on glass shuffling was nearly as treacherous as just taking giant steps forward and hoping for the best and after nearly tripping over her own feet twice Anne determined to take full and confident steps again as she was very sure where Diana might be found now; she could hear her breathing as Anne drew nearer, her stifled nervous giggles.

Of course, when she did come across Diana, it was a few steps sooner than she expecting—Diana's breaths had been loud and quick indeed, but not so loud as Anne had determined—and she stumbled right over top of her on her clumsy feet, sending both of them stumbling onto the ground. Anne's hands lay splayed, one on Diana's skirts and one on the flesh of her arm.

She laughed, and only when she laughed did Diana laugh too, so Anne thought perhaps she'd knocked her breathless and carefully slid her hand along Diana's bodice to feel her heartbeat. Diana heaved a breath and Anne's hand was on her bosom and of course Anne did not _intend_ for it to be there but the blindfold pardoned her for a multitude of sins. Really, had she not been feeling for Diana's heartbeat—fast and strong—she mightn't have the faintest idea on what part of Diana's body her hand had landed. Perhaps a fleshy bit of torso, or leg.

Diana didn't pull away, and so Anne did not make a spectacle of herself by pulling away either, and they lay there breathless on the grass for a few of the best moments of her life.

Because Anne could not see Diana's face (nor body, nor anything, but mostly her face), she was free to imagine the way that Diana was looking at her, and Anne had always been blessed with an abundance of imagination with which she easily conjured an affectionate gaze and an easy smile. When nothing else in her life was easy, Diana always had been.

She could not remain there forever, of course, though she feigned breathlessness for much longer than she felt it, except, of course, for the little breathlessness that came from the moment itself. When she moved her hand she covered as much territory as she reasonably could before pushing herself to her knees next to Diana's body.

"It's your turn now," said Anne, beginning to untie the blindfold.

"No, no," said Diana. "I'm so much better at this part than stumbling around when I can't see. You should go again."

"Are you sure?" said Anne, even as she began to refasten the blindfold, so ready to have another go at it.

"Oh, I'm certain," said Diana. "I would stumble about forever before I found you, and probably ruin my dress while I was at it."

"I shall take that to mean that we haven't already," said Anne, "and I shall endeavour not to tackle you to the ground this time when I find you."

Diana murmured something that Anne couldn't make out, even with her ears so sharply attuned to everything around her, then said, "All right, I'm moving now, begin counting, Anne!"

Anne counted out loud this time, but not _loudly_ except when she got to ten, which she said loudly and clearly enough for Diana to hear no matter where she'd ended up.

As she didn't know where she even began this time, Anne was even more disoriented than the first time, but she was tipped off by the squawk of a pair of birds when, she presumed, Diana stumbled into their habitat, and so headed for that straightaway. Of course, it wasn't nearly so simple, and Anne would've _sworn_ that Diana was moving on her if she didn't know better.

She found one of the trees that marked the corner of the playing area, and groped her way around it until she wasn't groping tree bark anymore, she was groping the skirt of Diana's dress, her hand pressed high up on her thigh through skirts that were much thinner than she had at first realised.

"Oh!" she said, stumbling in so that her whole body was pressed up against Diana's side. "I've found you."

Diana giggled, and her mouth was very nearly against Anne's ear. "You found me _entirely_ by accident. You had no idea I was right here."

"It still counts," said Anne, and bent her head forward and sure enough, it fell to rest against the tree next to Diana's, pressed up next to one another there, too. "And I _did_ know you were here. You disturbed the birds."

"I think they thought I was after their nest," said Diana, "though I was nowhere near it at all."

"Are we near it now?"

"No," said Diana softly. "The only thing we're near right now is one another."

Anne dared not move for a few moments, so precarious the moment seemed, but it wouldn't be sensible to linger any longer than that so she groped for the tree, first finding Diana's opposite thigh, then her waist, then her upper arm before reaching solid tree trunk just beyond that she could push herself off from.

"Are you sure you don't want a turn?"

"No, you must go again," said Diana. "You're very good at this game.

Anne thought perhaps she could have played it forever, until she heard an unmistakable voice calling out, "Anne? Diana?"

"Oh, we must get back," said Anne, determined not to let her disappointment show as she tore off the blindfold and tucked it back away in Diana's basket again. "Has it gotten so late already?"

"If it has, I haven't noticed," said Diana, "but then time always did fly with you, Anne."

"You are indeed the best friend I shall ever have," said Anne, and kissed her on the lips and took her hand to head for home.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Intimations Of Immortality From Recollections Of Early Childhood" by William Wordsworth.


End file.
